Living Franz Bardon

  Lately, I've been thinking a lot about EIF. What can I say? There are things I want to do in life, and I have to figure out how to do them. My time is running out. Everyone's time is running out. A cancer patient's time may be running out very quickly, but even a healthy person's time is running out. What I mean is simply that we all must die someday. And so I want to learn more about EIF, so that I may do the things I want to do in life before I die. They say the best way to learn about a subject is to teach it, so I'm going to try to teach EIF through blog posts. Hence this new series I am starting called "Exploring EIF." So, what is EIF? It is many things. It is a motto, a philosophy, a belief, an attitude which arises from the belief, a truth, a practice, and a way of life. I've found that reading stories about people who applied EIF is one of the best ways to learn what EIF is. In her book, Marie shares several stories about people applying EIF....

On the Bardon Discord, this blog post was shared, leading to a discussion of whether or not traits can be inherently positive or negative, or whether one's situation determines if a trait is positive or negative.  Traits can indeed be inherently positive or negative. Krodha, vyāpāda, and narcissism are inherently negative. Any sort of drug addiction is also inherently negative. Compassion, assertiveness, prudence, and honesty are inherently positive. The key thing to know is that whether or not a trait is inherently positive or negative does not depend on what results it produces. A positive trait is an expression of one's essential divine nature (Ātman/Tathāgatagarbha). A negative trait, on the other hand, derives from the kilesas within oneself. One's essential divine nature is something that is objectively real. Kilesas are also objectively real. So there is nothing subjective about whether a trait is inherently positive or negative, as I've seen some people say. No...

Last night, some old friends of mine happened to be in my city for business and I had the opportunity to have dinner with them. Since a few of those friends were spiritual people, our conversation ended up turning to spiritual topics, and at some point the topic of Buddhadasa came up. One friend of mine said that Buddhadasa was an insightful teacher, but was unfortunately also a huge shit-stirrer, and that this is why he has such a controversial reputation. In response to this, another friend of mine pointed out that being a shit-stirrer isn't inherently bad, and that it can even be a good thing. In the case of Buddhadasa, it seemed that he was doing good by being a shit-stirrer.  I thought this was very interesting. I actually agree that being a shit-stirrer isn't inherently bad, and that it can even be a good thing. It depends largely on one's intent. Sure there are plenty of unwholesome reasons one could try to stir shit up, but there are also legitimate reasons to stir ...

  Note: The word "cook" can mean either preparing food for consumption by means of heat or being prepared for consumption by means of heat. Although the former use of the word is more common, I employ the latter use throughout this post. When you want to make a fried egg, you put a raw egg in a frying pan and you let it cook. Once it has cooked long enough, it will be a fried egg. Becoming a magician is similar. You just have to let yourself cook long enough.  A lot of Bardonists these days like to waste time. That wasted time should be spent on something important, such as cooking. Prayer is one way of cooking. Meditating is another way of cooking. If you find yourself with free time, don't waste it. Use it to cook. Go sit in your chair and watch your breath. When you inhale, watch your breath going in. When you exhale, watch your breath going out. When your mind has wandered from your breath, gently bring it back. That's all you need to do. You might think you'r...